raju narayanaswamy

i joined college in 1991.
at the convocation that year, the usual awardees like the president's gold medallist (same for each iit) and governor's gold medallist where eating humble pie to my subject.
raju topped the IAS that year. an unheard of occurrence in the annals of iit madras.
he was the toast all along the place.

obviously, the euphoria and the memory faded rapidly.
till i saw this article in tehelka.

obviously raju was thriving and swimming strong against the sewage.
and in the meanwhile, we heard a lot of the famous munnar demolition drive initiated by kerala cm - achuthanandan. almost ruthlessly, illegal encroachments were being razed to ground.
and guess who was one of the lead men - correct - rns was the collector of the district.
no one was spared - tatas, CPI, CPI(M) were all deemed to be illegal squatters and rapid action was underway, when money power spannered everything.

he has been covered by mainstream media in his struggles.
indian express from sept 2007
telegraph from sept 2002 on his move to the UN
the week (latest news) on the dismantling of the elite squad.
the hindu from july 2007 where CM shows true colours.

this is a connection that has been re-established after 16 years and i am not hanging up soon.